Posted on 12/07/2006 11:58:23 PM PST by MadIvan
Europe's second-highest ranking commissioner was fighting to save his political career last night over pictures showing him naked on a beach with his chief of staff.
Günther Verheugen, who is married, is shown — wearing only a baseball cap — with his newly promoted aide, Petra Erler, on a nudist beach in Lithuania.
José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, rushed to the aid of his German Vice-President yesterday, saying that he expected “people’s private spheres” to be respected.
However, controversy over Mr Verheugen, 62, who is also Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, is raging in Germany, three weeks before the country is due to take over the European Union presidency.
Media coverage has completely overshadowed the plans of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, for the presidency, such as membership negotiations with Turkey and revival of the European constitution.
The mass circulation Bild newspaper published details yesterday of Mr Verheugen’s holiday with Ms Erler, 48, in August when the couple were seen paddling in the sea and relaxing in the dunes. His wife did not join them on holiday. Bild did not publish the photographs, but Focus magazine is expected to publish the photographs on Monday.
Mr Verheugen strenuously denied any intimate relationship with Ms Erler after Focus published earlier pictures of his Lithuanian holiday in which the couple could be seen holding hands. “I believe the question of with whom and where I spend my holiday in August is a purely private affair, which does not concern anyone other than my wife who was informed about it,” he said.
The commissioner is one of the most powerful in Brussels, not only as deputy to Mr Barroso, but is also at the helm of a campaign to break the bureaucratic stranglehold on industry.
In a recent interview, Mr Verheugen criticised the EU bureaucracy for not adapting to the new political culture. “There is a view that the more regulations you have, the more rules you have, the more Europe you have,” he said. “I don’t share that view.”
As a result Mr Verheugen has made enemies in Brussels. So too, it seems, has Ms Erler, who is regarded as the key figure in Mr Verheugen’s department. Both enjoy special protection in Berlin. Mr Verheugen is a senior Social Democrat, and sacking him would cause a crisis in Germany’s Grand Coalition Government. Ms Erler is the only East German in the higher ranks of the European Union and was a member of the last East German Government. One of her staff at that time was a certain Angela Merkel, then a lowly press spokeswoman.
That support now looks shaky. Mr Verheugen was widowed in the 1980s, then remarried to Gabrielle. Mrs Verheugen says that she knew of her husband’s summer holiday to Nida on the Baltic coast of Lithuania last August. Mr Barroso has also defended Mr Verheugen’s promotion of Ms Erler.
The new photographs will raise eyebrows, but still do not prove that Mr Verheugen was lying about his relationship with Ms Erler. They could, however, be seen as violating the Commission code of ethics.
Herbert Reul, the Christian Democratic European Parliament deputy, called for his resignation. “It’s unacceptable that an EU Commissioner should be running around naked on a beach with a senior female colleague,” he said.
The Government’s main hope is that Focus may relent and not publish the snapshots.
Commissioners caught out
Edith Cresson
Hired her dentist as a scientific adviser in 1999, while she was Comissioner for Education, Research and Sciences. He was paid £100,000 for two-and-a-half years’ work, which was declared useless
Jacques Barrot
In 2004, failed to reveal a previous conviction for embezzlement, later voided by a 1995 presidential amnesty. However, became Transport Commissioner
Rocco Buttiglione
Rejected as Italian nominee after expressing the view that women belonged in the family and that homosexuality was a sin
Ingrida Udre
Withdrawn as Latvian nominee after protests in Latvia about a corruption inquiry into her party and her waste of taxpayers' money by taking her hair stylist on foreign trips
He wasn't wearing a Speedo!
I hope these pictures never see daylight, because besides the VP, there's the fact that his gal pal is 48, and women of that age who should be seen nude are very, very rare. [shudder!]
“Given the specific lineup [of the Iraq Study Group] the most conspicuous absence is that of supermodel Heidi Klum. Sure, she has no relevant experience in foreign policy, nor any real knowledge of Iraq -- but neither do commissioners Sandra Day O'Connor, Vernon Jordan, Alan Simpson, or Edwin Meese. What Klum does have to offer is a lesson completely lost on the commission, one taught each week on her hit reality show ‘Project Runway’: you're either in, or you're out. When it comes to Iraq, it's good advice.”--Spencer Ackerman, The American Prospect magazine
Heidi for American Ambassador to the UN! :-)
Easily the most shocking aspect of this article is that there is a nude beach in Lithuania, whose capital lies north of Winnipeg.
Plus, it's interesting to watch all those Europeans (who we were told would never care about Monicagate) caring about this guy's morals.
europeans who go in speedos.
Um...I'm gonna guess Rocco is the odd one out. What do I win?
Wow. Somebody fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, didn't they?
You and me, both. The other part I don't get...is it or is it not socially acceptable to frequent a nude beach? We have them in CA, but the politicians don't go.
My undying admiration.
While the other people mentioned actually committed wrongdoing of one kind or another, Rocco only holds unpopular views.
Interesting that these should be reported as equivalent. Hmmm...
Boy, he didn't pull any punches.
I had hoped for cold, hard cash, but admiration is even better. :-)
Interesting that these should be reported as equivalent. Hmmm...
Probably the paper was following a regulation in the European Parliament's Thoughtcrimes Reporting Act of 2001.
Reminds me of the nude beach just outside the anti-aircraft range at Todendorf, Germany, which overlooks the Baltic Sea. Even during the summer, I doubt that the water temperature ever exceeded 50 degrees.
My first visit was (ahem!) uncomfortable for about the first 10 minutes, and my (German) girlfriend was kidding me about my hesitancy to disrobe. At that point, I noticed an older gentleman who was 5'8" and 300+ lbs. At that point, I said "what the heck".
I never got more than knee deep in that water though!
Having seen some of your politicians I think you should be very grateful for that. The last thing in the world I want to see is Di Fi strolling along some beach .......shudder.
L
Good day Ivan
I see now why England and the Germans had the unplesentness years ago.
Seems the rest of Euroope missed the chance to learn.
North America has it's share of "All for one, my way" types here as well.
Perhaps we will get lucky and the voters will wake up - but, more likely, not.
Enjoy while you may.
"I can't say no to my naked wife either..."
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Ivan, as one who proudly traces his roots back to the Isles, let me say that you do all of us proud by showing that there are at some fine examples of ba!!s still there!!
Nicely done!!!
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